Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not and never will belong to me. The marvelous and brilliant J. K. Rowling deserves all the credit and I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. That said, I'm borrowing a couple of her characters for a short while. Just for fun. Not for profit.
On This Day, Forever Ago
Severus stood awkwardly at the grave.
Ten years to the day. Ten years (forever and the blink of an eye all in one) to the day since he had cast that terrible curse. And Dumbledore had fallen.
It had seemed to take him an age to fall. An eternity.
And the boy - Severus glanced at Potter - man now standing beside him had burst out of nowhere and chased him from the grounds.
And he had run.
He had run when all he had wanted to do was fall to his knees and cry. Cry for Dumbledore. Cry for Lily. (Always for Lily.)
For himself.
Hell, even for Potter.
He was sure on that day that Potter would never stop hating him.
Potter's hatred had been the bane of his existence for years. Potter's hatred, that he had carefully cultivated and oh so expertly brought on himself.
He knew he deserved it.
Still though... to have Lily's eyes stare at him with such... contempt...
It had never stopped feeling like a knife to his heart.
And now... Severus thought of Potter's son.
Albus Severus.
He knew Potter didn't hate him anymore. Lily's eyes shown with kindness and respect.
And somehow that hurt too.
Beside him Harry Potter sighed. "You did what you had to do," he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. "Now you can rest. Be at peace, Professor."
"Ready to go?" Ginny Potter asked from a few feet away, smiling softly at her husband, and Severus closed his eyes as Potter turned and walked through him to stand before his wife.
"I'm ready. Let's go home."
Severus didn't open his eyes and didn't turn to watch as the Potters walked away but the boy's (man's) words pierced right through to his core.
"Now you can rest. Be at peace."
Severus wasn't sure it was possible.
Peace, he suspected, had never been an option for him.
- End.
A/N: So. If anyone was wondering, it was not my intention to make Snape a ghost as ghosts are in the HP series. Yes, he is dead, and yes, he is there at the grave with Harry in some form or another... but no, Harry can't see him. He's not a ghost like Nearly Headless Nick or Myrtle or any of the countless others that Harry (and wizards in general) can see. He's just... there. Take that how you will.
